tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24122623619838343492017-10-15T19:11:22.851-04:00Nerdy for BirdyBirding, Kayaking and Nature loving in Windsor Essex County in Ontario Canadadwaynejavanoreply@blogger.comBlogger436125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-87874423960659479342017-10-15T10:48:00.000-04:002017-10-15T17:02:16.784-04:00Nelson's Sparrow! Plus Autumn Botanizing at Ojibway Park (V2)
Diagnostic Photo of Nelson's Sparrow
Last weekend, Kit had informed me that he found a Nelson's Sparrow in the Hillman Marsh area. In earnest fashion, I went the following morning - but dipped on finding it. I had shrugged off missing the bird to what I usually say: "Its OK Dwayne - just save it for retirement...". I did have a great walk though. There was abundant Bronze Coppers and I dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-59528260665965785712017-10-02T21:01:00.000-04:002017-10-02T21:01:11.122-04:00Greyling Michigan to Lake Superior Provincial Park (part 2 of 2)
Greyling Michigan - Home of the Kirtland's Warbler
Back in July - I had a posting about Misery Bay Provincial Park (on Manitoulin Island) http://dwaynejava.blogspot.ca/2017/07/misery-bay-provincial-park-and-bruce.html and really, that posting was only part 1 of a 2 part series. That trip involved a complete circuit around Lake Huron, with the first part of the trip going all the way up dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-59629040189274875542017-09-13T18:16:00.001-04:002017-09-13T18:19:47.499-04:00Yellow Crowned Night Heron - Eating Crayfish
A Yellow crowned night heron was recently photographed by an Amhurstburg woman who posted it on a facebook group wondering what it was. Amazingly, a few local birders caught wind of the photo and identified it as a Juvie YC Night Heron.
To see it eating crayfish was pretty amazing. It would catch the fish, bring it over to the grass, rip off its two claws, then swallow the body whole. In dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-82820731071858420492017-08-26T23:01:00.002-04:002017-08-26T23:14:05.205-04:00Late August Botany Walk with the Essex County Field Naturalists' Club
This morning on Aug 26th, 2017 the Essex County Field Naturalists had two event offerings within the Ojibway Complex. One was a hummingbird banding demonstration at the visitor center, and the second option was to tour some of the botany features of the Chappus St. Ojibway Prairie fragment area (as well as the Spring Garden Study Area). I opted for the botany tour! Our tour leader was Russ dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-40358666641263295972017-08-12T22:35:00.002-04:002017-08-12T22:35:59.768-04:00Fantastic, Phenomenal Phalarope Flocks
Most people in southwestern Ontario probably know about the long-staying Phalaropes at the East Essex S.L. The funny thing about this sighting was that day by day, it seemed more Phalaropes incrementally appeared. I had gone on one occasion and I had not seen any. Then on my second try, I was able to see 5 Red-necked Phalaropes and 2 Wilson's! I also had a Kory and Jeremy H sighting!
dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-75576776830572954172017-07-30T15:36:00.001-04:002017-08-07T11:54:55.817-04:00Birding in ... New Brunswick? v2
For the last two days, I've been in new Brunswick. My dad was there for a summer vacation, and I wanted to help him drive back to Windsor.
I did some quick research before I left about what were some ideal life bird opportunities and my research came up with the following 5 birds:
Nelson's Sparrow
Black Guillemot
Razorbill
Common Eider
Northern Gannet
I'm sure there were more, but this dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-90965550129547689012017-07-22T22:06:00.000-04:002017-07-22T22:38:04.819-04:00Red headed Woodpeckers at Ojibway Park in Windsor + Ojibway Legal Fund
Ojibway keeps proving itself to be a sparkling diamond in Windsor's West End.
Occasionally people ask me what my favorite bird is. Its a hard question to answer!?!!? Its difficult to even round out your ten favorite warblers, or your top three owls or shorebirds. But overall, I could almost say that with the 403 bird species that I've seen... the Red headed Woodpecker has to be #1.
To my dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-76480368577040980422017-07-12T16:41:00.001-04:002017-07-13T10:07:09.388-04:00Misery Bay Provincial Park and Bruce Peninsula in Early July - Birding, Butterfly Watching, and Botany!
The last 1.5 weeks was pretty exciting. We had a family vacation that essentially circled Lake Huron! Some stops on the trip included:
Greyling MI
Traverse City MI
Mackinaw MI
Sault St Marie
Lake Superior Provincial Park
Manitoulin Island
Bruce Peninsula
Of course, many of the 7 areas mentioned above has many sub-destinations that related to nature appreciation but the family vacation dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-73913164401864355142017-06-30T22:49:00.002-04:002017-08-02T13:25:01.143-04:00 Eastern Fringed Prairie Orchid at Ojibway Park + Butler's Garter Snake and Other Stuff
Things have been busy but even still, I've attempted to go for a short hike after work at various areas of the Ojibway Complex almost daily over the last few weeks. Summer is so short that one needs to make serious efforts to get out in nature to witness it. Highlites over the last week or two include a few species FOY Hairstreaks, and some cool video footage of a Butler's Gartersnake!
Mydwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-16327499287637371832017-06-27T21:08:00.002-04:002017-06-27T21:17:05.207-04:00Northern Oak Hairstreak at Reid CA in Wallaceburg ON + ... wait for it... FOY Dickcissel in Lambton!
Northern Oak Hairstreak at Reid CA
Those that read my end of year summary (published back in Jan) might recall that one of my nature viewing goals this year was to finally catch up with the Northern Oak Hairstreak. I must admit that I have tried at least once or twice for this butterfly in the past with and dipped. So this year, I made an honest effort to go see this butterfly in the middle dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-86951975382028545892017-06-25T20:40:00.000-04:002017-06-25T20:42:07.023-04:00IO Moth & Giant Leopard Moth at Brunet Park in LaSalle
About three years ago, Steve Pike introduced me to a local moth expert - Moe Botus who I have had the chance to go mothing with at least once per season during the last few summers [link]. I've been bugging (no pun intended) Moe to invite me out when IO Moths were flying... As I had seen a picture of one posted a few years ago during an Ojibway Park BioBlitz. Another moth that I really dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-87366921866953993292017-06-03T23:35:00.000-04:002017-06-03T23:47:39.149-04:00Early June Butterfly Watching and Birding at the Pinery
Wanting to get away from the house, I packed up the van and brought the family out to Pinery Provincial Park along the beautiful shores of Lake Huron. The weather today was gorgeous - just a perfect sunny day. One of my goals from this trip - (I figured it would be a long-shot ) - was to see an Eastern Pine Elfin. This is one of those species I assumed I would probably never see. I had dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-45237430494500799942017-05-14T19:02:00.002-04:002017-05-14T19:02:43.032-04:00Backyard ... Whip-poor-will??!?! + Pelee Wed May 10th photos
On Saturday May 13th, I had spent the day birding at Pelee and was particularly exhausted in the evening. Taking a nap in my room with the window open, I heard the familiar "Peent" of the local American Woodcock. I went to the window to take in the sounds, and to look if I could see the timberdoodle display, when to my amazement, an Eastern Whip-poor-will burst out into loud song! My mind was dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-10969809231192961712017-05-06T22:56:00.003-04:002017-05-06T22:56:39.905-04:00Soggy, Sedgy Saturday - Sedge Wren at Point Pelee
Point Pelee Sedge Wren
Its been about two weeks since I went to Pelee so I was very excited to get out and do some birding today. Of course, the weather has been brutally cold and rainy lately and birds were scarce at Pelee today. Still, there were some great birds to see. Of note was a Sedge Wren that has been hanging around the tip of Point Pelee for the last few days. I had briefly seen dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-79098965072547315652017-04-27T22:10:00.002-04:002017-04-27T22:10:28.856-04:00Malden Park - More First of Year Birds...
After work today, I had a text message from Kit that there were lots of warblers today at Malden Park. So I stopped by quickly on my way home.
Lots of first -of -year (FOY) birds this afternoon. Palm & Yellow rumped Warblers were abundant. Singles (or doubles) of Yellow Warbler and Blackburnian Warbler were seen as well! The Blackburnian might be a little earlier than usual an Ebird dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-66086078613277323392017-04-22T16:58:00.001-04:002017-04-22T17:00:07.476-04:00Earth Day Birding at Point Pelee - April 22nd, 2017
Just a quick posting today. A 4 hour walk this morning at Pelee provided some decent birding. I walked from White Pine to Cactus Field over to Tilden's Trail then over to Woodland nature trail, down to Post-woods Trail, then over to the Serengeti Tree then Tram Loop Woods.
Woodland Nature trail was pretty good this morning. I was happy to see Red breasted Nuthatches, a female YBSS, my first dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-84760006596618543382017-04-20T17:30:00.000-04:002017-04-20T17:30:19.078-04:00Windsor's Malden Park - Mid April Migrants
I stopped by Malden Park on the way home today after work, and was pleasantly surprised to see some nice migrants. One highlite was hearing a Brown Thrasher singing its heart out, with its paired sounds. I was listening to its calls for a few minutes before I was able to spot the bird - and one can't help but smile when one hears its song.
A few other common birds were around, Blackdwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-65207399210533110642017-04-15T23:07:00.003-04:002017-04-16T00:25:59.690-04:00Black necked Stilts at Windsor's Ganatchio Trail
GPS coordinate for the Wetland where the birds where:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/42%C2%B019'51.4%22N+82%C2%B055'14.0%22W/@42.3309419,-82.9227347,676m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d42.330938!4d-82.920546
PARKING: If you plan to go, I would recommend that the official parking for Ganatchio trail is at the corner of Riverside Drive East and Florence Ave.
https://dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-620391010346223642017-04-09T20:22:00.001-04:002017-04-09T20:22:52.510-04:00Yellow bellied Sapsuckers at Black Oak Heritage Park in Windsor
Saturday, I stopped by Ojibway Park hoping to see Yellow bellied Sapsuckers and eventually found some (3!) at Black Oak Heritage Park. Seeing this particular species during spring migration brings great joy. They are common enough that you will most likely see them yet rare enough that you might need to look for them or perhaps know their call.
I went to Point Pelee today with highdwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-83990099938231144912017-04-07T17:17:00.001-04:002017-04-07T17:40:37.054-04:00Early April Migrants at Ojibway Park
After work today I went to Ojibway Park to soak in some sunshine and see if I could find some good birds. I had a surprisingly good walk! I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear several Winter Wrens for example. I watched a Hairy Woodpecker excavating a cavity. It would be really neat to see a breeding pair at Ojibway this spring!
I was also delighted to see my first breeding-plumaged dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-55349174188116263502017-03-25T22:47:00.001-04:002017-03-25T22:54:39.121-04:00Signs of Spring
Garden-variety flowers at my workplace. Note the pair of honeybees!
This past week -with its milder temperatures - inspired me to get out a little more and walk around in nature! The two scenes above and below were taken near my workplace and it was nice to see Robins and blooming flowers - as well as honeybees! I saw a Robin a few weeks ago in my backyard but this weekend they seemed to dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-29172021333654184662017-02-24T20:21:00.000-05:002017-02-27T19:26:57.312-05:00Backyard Woodcocks! Feb 24, 2017Just a short posting tonight. I had my dad visiting for dinner tonight and while I was pouring a post-dinner coffee, I hear: PEEENT, PEEENT, PEEENT in my back yard. My screen was open as it was about 17C.
Backyard February Woodcocks? YES!
I stepped out onto my back porch and took this brief 40 second video. You can actually see a pair of woodcocks flying in their spiraling timberdoodle display dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-23642944339057684982017-02-20T20:45:00.000-05:002017-02-27T20:48:00.429-05:00Winter Birding at Algonquin Park (v3)
Pine Marten
This past weekend, I had a unique opportunity to join two other birders (Kit M & Sean J) on a trip to Algonquin Park. This was my second trip to the park --- my first trip was a few years ago during a mid summer trip to Ottawa [link].
Red Crossbill
There are a few locations and seasons that birders in Ontario are obligated to take part in. For example: Early May at dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-82623711796302148482017-02-12T18:11:00.001-05:002017-02-12T20:13:53.961-05:00Piper Shorebird Animated Movie
I heard about this cute little 6 minute short movie recently from Audubon's website [link], and watched recently on an online streaming service. This is a must see for any birder and especially for those of us that have a special place in our hearts for shorebirds.
One great thing about this video might be that it could raise awareness of shorebirds and perhaps the conservation of shoreline dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2412262361983834349.post-13319548569269993292017-02-08T20:52:00.003-05:002017-02-08T20:52:39.569-05:00Bald Eagle with Interesting Prey
Back in late December, while driving along a road out in Harrow and I stopped to look at a Bald Eagle in the middle of an agricultural field. While reaching into the back seat of my car to grab my camera, the Eagle took flight and I was only able to take some diagnostic photos of the bird as it flew away. Taking a closer look at the images reveal it had caught an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit!dwaynejavanoreply@blogger.com1